Book review: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Take my advice and start your 2012 reading with this outstanding debut novel by Beth Hoffman.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a charming story that will have readers laughing out loud at the quirky female characters and witty storyline.

CeeCee's mother is a pretty, but slightly mad, former Vidalia Onion Queen. When she is suddenly killed her 12-year-old daughter is sent to stay with Great Aunt Tootie in a southern mansion that is nothing like anything CeeCee has seen before.

There she finds a friend in her aunt's housekeeper and cook, Oletta.

She also meets the neighbours who get up to all sorts of shenanigans.

While these people gather around CeeCee to comfort her in her guilt over her mother's death, an incident forces the young girl to acknowledge the ugliness of racism and threatens to take away her newfound happiness.

An excellent read. I look forward to more from this author.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

By Beth Hoffman

Abacus, $36.99